Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Tonight was Henry's first shower (of the heavenly sort) and he was seriously unimpressed to find out the sky was falling.

He's gotten very good about heading to the slider when he needs to go, and even paws at the door when he really needs to go, but tonight presented a special problem.

Tonight, it rained.

This is probably the first rain he's ever seen, and he definitely didn't know what to make of the big wet drops that were hitting him on the head as I carried him to his potty place.

(Yes, I was carrying him. Why? Because it was dark and cold, and I don't want to be pulling a puppy from the pond when it's dark and cold.)

Now there is a large umbrella next to the potty place (a circular ex-pen on the sacrificial bit of used-to-be-lawn) but it's there to keep the sun off (last week the temps soared over 100F) not to keep the rain (which we rarely have) out.

So there is Henry, trying to get to the middle of the pen to Get Busy and being pelted by rain drops as he does so.

Not happening, and he returned to the side of the pen, and sat-n-stared (his "I'm done, pick me up" signal... only this time, he was lying and we both knew it.)

As you can carry a puppy to the potty but you can't make him go, I picked him up, sheltered him as best I could, and returned inside.

Where is paced, and sniffed, and looked miserable, and asked again to go outside.

Back to the pen we go, and once again I plop him down inside.

Once again he heads out from the shelter of the umbrella, then returns, heads out, then returns.

(Note to those thinking me cruel. There is absolutely no reason he couldn't have gone while staying under the umbrella, it was just as grassy as the center, where he was heading. Only puppy knows why he wanted to go in that particularly spot.)

Finally, pulling his ears back and tucking his tail as much as a potty-bound puppy can, he darted out the center, turned around once, Got Busy, and dashed back to where I was waiting.

Good Puppy!

A nice rub-down with a thick, fluffy towel awaited him in the house, followed by some cuddling and a nap on my chest as I lay on the sofa.

Yeah, he's spoiled, but he's only going to be little for a few weeks, and I'm going to enjoy every last one of them!

Beau

"We who choose to surround ourselves with lives even more temporary than our own, live within a fragile circle; easily and often breached. Unable to accept its awful gaps, we would still live no other way. We cherish memory as the only certain immortality, never fully understanding the necessary plan."